Judge vaporizes Yellowstone snowmobile ban

A second judge will likely demand some
limits on winter traffic

Bison share the road with snowmobiles in Yellowstone
Nationhal Park, between Madison and Old Faithful

William Campbell

On Oct. 14, U.S.
District Court Judge Clarence Brimmer emphatically struck down the
Clinton-era ban on snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton
national parks. Brimmer called the ban, which would have prohibited
snowmobile traffic but allowed visitors to enter the park in
van-like snowcoaches, "a wrong-headed decision, based on poor
judgement."

The decision came in response to a lawsuit
from the states of Wyoming and Montana, a snowmobile industry
group, and several individuals and other organizations. In his
40-page ruling, the Wyoming judge concluded that National Park
Service officials, in the process of making their decision,
"pre-judged" the outcome, failed to cooperate with other agencies,
and deprived the public of a meaningful chance to comment. Brimmer
also argued that the Park Service failed to adequately study
emissions, noise, and the other impacts of an increased number of
snowcoaches in the park.

Though the Park Service had
reviewed previous studies that compared snowmobile and snowcoach
emissions, and conducted a study of snowcoach noise, the judge
commented that "nowhere was there a study of the small windows of
snowcoaches usually fogged by passengers’ exhalation, the
cramped, uncomfortable seating, and the slowness of the coaches,
all of which are to the detriment of Park visitors’ enjoyment
of their trip."

Snowmobile advocates, Wyoming Gov. Dave
Freudenthal, and Interior Secretary Gale Norton cheered the
decision. Not surprisingly, environmental groups announced plans to
appeal. Though Brimmer repeatedly called the ban a "political"
decision, studies conducted by the Park Service under the Clinton
and Bush administrations have consistently concluded that a
snowmobile ban is the best way to protect park resources.

Snowmobile critics also point out that the initial comment period
on the ban had, at the time, attracted one of the greatest number
of public comments in Park Service history. "It’s ironic that
that process is being thrown out on the grounds that it
didn’t involve the public," says Abigail Dillen, an
Earthjustice attorney who intervened in the case on behalf of the
Greater Yellowstone Coalition.

Despite the uproar,
Brimmer’s ruling may not have much of an impact on the
snowmobile controversy — thanks to another lawsuit in a
separate court.

Last December, in response to a lawsuit
from environmental groups, Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S.
District Court in Washington, D.C., nixed a pro-snowmobile plan
issued by the Park Service and reinstated the Clinton-era ban (HCN,
2/16/04: Tipping the scales). In February, Brimmer shot back with a
restraining order on the newly revived Clinton rule. In response to
Sullivan’s ruling, the Park Service is working on a set of
"temporary" rules. These rules, which the agency plans to finalize
by early November and enforce for up to three winters, would
require all snowmobiles to use four-stroke engines instead of the
dirtier two-stroke models. Snowmobilers in Yellowstone would have
to travel with a professional guide.

The proposed rules
would allow 720 snowmobiles into Yellowstone and 140 into Grand
Teton each day — only slightly less than the average
visitation before the ban. But Judge Sullivan will review the new
rules before they go into effect. Though Brimmer’s Oct. 14
ruling prohibits Sullivan from returning to the Clinton ban,
environmentalists argue that he could demand significantly tighter
rules than the Park Service is now proposing.

Stephen
Saunders, former deputy assistant secretary of the Interior for
fish, wildlife and parks and one of the architects of the Clinton
snowmobile policy, says that despite the most recent ruling, the
ban will have a durable legacy. "Even the Bush administration is
not trying to go back to the completely unlimited rule we had in
effect before," says Saunders. "There’s no way that could be
justified with the findings that we made about the damage that was
occurring (from snowmobiles) to park resources and values. So now,
the argument is over how to limit them."